JP7280371B2 - Systems, commercial vehicles, methods and computer programs for compensating motion of vehicle components - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a system and method for compensating for motion of a vehicle component relative to another vehicle component or the ground, particularly for compensating for motion in ground sensing of sensors on commercial vehicles.

Autonomous operation of transport vehicles, in particular, increasingly requires sophisticated functionality based on a sophisticated hardware and software infrastructure, including various types of environmental sensors. Accordingly, an increasing number of sensor units capturing the environment around the vehicle in greater detail are being provided in such commercial vehicles.

Such sensors are typically mounted in the vehicle cabin, which is in part because the cabin is the highest part of the commercial vehicle and provides a good bird's-eye view of the vehicle's environment and surroundings. I owe it to you. On the other hand, the typical suspension of the cabin can result in considerable motion/displacement between the cabin and chassis/undercarriage that significantly affects the perceived results of the environmental sensors. As a result, for example, when measuring the distance to the preceding vehicle, the sensor data may deviate and an error may occur. For many applications, especially autonomous driving applications, this is unacceptable.

WO2018/142057 discloses a conventional apparatus for calibration of perceptual systems including LIDAR rangefinders, wherein calibration parameters are derived from at least one video camera and landmark detection. has been decided. Another conventional system is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/317781, in which external calibration of an image sensing device is used to generate a 3D point cloud based on multiple sensors. there is In particular, the system obtains calibration parameters based on a combination of camera and LIDAR system.

Although such systems can be used to calibrate sensing devices on vehicles, such conventional systems do not take into account the motion of the cabin relative to the ground or the chassis of the commercial vehicle.

Accordingly, a need exists for a system that can overcome at least some of the problems discussed above.

At least some of the problems of conventional systems are overcome by the system of claim 1, the method of claim 12, and the computer program product of claim 14. Each dependent claim relates to further advantageous realizations of the subject matter of the respective independent claim.

The present invention relates to a system for compensating motion of a vehicle component relative to another vehicle component or the ground, wherein one or more sensors are supported on the vehicle component. The system includes a control unit, the control unit comprising:
- receiving sensor data from one or more sensors;
- detecting motion of a vehicle component; and - determining compensation data that allows compensation for deviations in sensor data caused by motion;
is configured to run

A vehicle component may be any component of a vehicle, such as a cabin, frame, chassis, chassis, and the like. The component is, in particular, independently suspended compared to other vehicle components. Due to such independent suspension, during driving, movement of that component relative to other vehicle components (eg, the wheels being driven) occurs and must be compensated for. A corresponding compensation of the sensor data of the various sensors of the vehicle can take place in the control unit or any other control unit. Compensation quantities can be used to improve environmental perception, which is particularly advantageous for autonomous driving.

The one or more sensors may be multiple sensors supported or held by the vehicle component or other vehicle components. Optionally, the control unit is further configured to base the compensation data determination on data received by one or more of the plurality of sensors. Further, the control unit can be configured to supply compensation data for correction of sensor data from some or all of the plurality of sensors. Thus, compensation data may be based on data from one sensor, but is also used for other sensors on the vehicle.

The vehicle component may be the cabin of a commercial vehicle, and the control unit may be configured to determine the position of the cabin and/or the deviation of that position with respect to the ground, which, as in the case above, is determined by 1 It may be based on motion detected by one or more sensors.

The vehicle component may be a chassis or undercarriage of a commercial vehicle, and the control unit may be configured to determine the position and/or deviation of the position of the chassis with respect to the ground.

Optionally, the control unit further:
- correcting the sensor data based on the determined position of the cabin or deviation of said position; and/or - correcting the sensor data based on the determined position of the chassis or deviation of said position.

Optionally, the control unit is configured to use one of the sensors to determine the ground plane for the vehicle component. The ground plane may be a road plane or a street plane.

The one or more sensors can be configured to generate a point cloud from ground reflections detected by the one or more sensors (e.g., LIDAR), and the control unit determines a ground plane based on the point cloud. can be configured to determine The determined horizon can be used to determine compensation data. Determination of the ground plane can be performed by statistical regression analysis that fits the plane to the point cloud. It will be appreciated that during operation of the vehicle (eg, driving on a road), the determined ground plane is not static with respect to vehicle components, but changes according to detected motion. Such changes can be compensated for using compensation data.

Optionally, the control unit can be configured to determine the ground plane based on sensor data from a combination of one or more sensors and any other sensor of the vehicle. For example, the ground plane can be determined after all sensor data are integrated. Also, each of these sensors can determine the ground plane, and this redundancy can be used to improve accuracy (eg, by averaging or another statistical analysis).

The vehicle may include other sensors for obtaining vehicle data and/or environmental data, and the control unit may base the compensation data determination in part on the vehicle data and/or the environmental data. Configurable. Vehicle data may relate to vehicle speed, load, braking events, cornering, and the like. Environmental data may include navigation data, weather conditions (eg, snowfall), road grade, and the like.

A further embodiment allows dynamic correction of sensor data received during operation of the vehicle (eg at any control unit of the vehicle). In particular, during operation of the vehicle, the control unit can compensate sensor data from any sensor on the basis of the correction information, at least as long as they are affected by relative movements.

Embodiments also relate to commercial vehicles with components suspended independently from other vehicle components, wherein at least one sensor is supported (eg, attached) to the component. The vehicle includes the system described above. Optionally, the one or more sensors comprise one or more of LIDAR (=light detecting and ranging ) , mono and/or stereo cameras, radar, ultrasonic sensors.

Yet another embodiment relates to a method for compensating for motion of another vehicle component or a vehicle component relative to the ground, wherein at least one sensor is supported by the component. The method is
- receiving sensor data from at least one sensor;
Detecting motion of the component; and Determining compensation data that allows compensation for deviations in sensor data caused by the motion.

Optionally, the method may include continuously determining compensation data that enables dynamic correction of sensor data received from various sensors of the vehicle during operation of the vehicle.

Moreover, any functionality of the systems described above can be realized by any further method steps.

A method can also be implemented as software or a computer program product, and the order of steps is immaterial to achieving the desired effect. Embodiments of the present invention can be implemented, among other things, by software or software modules in any ECU (electronic control unit) of the vehicle. Embodiments therefore also relate to a computer program product having program code for performing the above method when running on a processor.

Embodiments of the present invention are useful for estimating the ground (or ground plane) relative to the actual position of a vehicle's frame (or any component capable of relative motion) to which one or more exemplary perceptual sensors may be attached. A system that can solve at least some of the problems discussed above. The frame may be either the cabin or chassis of a commercial vehicle, or any other independently suspended portion of the vehicle. The frame undergoes displacement (or some movement) due to dynamic force action during operation of the vehicle. From the data of at least one environmental perception sensor, the system can estimate the displacement of the frame relative to the ground or other vehicle components. Displacement may not only relate to translational movements in one of the three-dimensional spatial axes, but may also include rotation or vibration or rocking of the corresponding vehicle component. The determined displacement is used to compensate for the corresponding error in the sensor data (eg correct the distance to the front of the vehicle).

Unlike conventional systems, embodiments take into account the relative motion of vehicle components and subsequently compensate for this. Embodiments may therefore not be used as (or at least only as) calibration of environmental sensors, but may allow for dynamic compensation, taking into account the relative displacements discussed above.

A particular advantage of embodiments is that it allows real-time estimation of the displacement of the frame with respect to the ground, thus allowing better transformation of the sensor data of the sensors attached to the frame into a coordinate system associated with the (overall) vehicle. about things. A better and more accurate environment perception is thus achieved. In particular, this significantly improves the accuracy of localization of objects detected by the sensor.

Several examples of systems and/or methods are described below, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying figures.

1 illustrates a system for compensating motion of a vehicle component relative to a ground surface, according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 5 shows a commercial vehicle with a cabin subject to (relative) motion to be compensated according to another embodiment; 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method according to yet another embodiment;

FIG. 1 shows a system for compensating motion of vehicle components 50, 55 with a sensor 70 (or sensors) according to one embodiment of the present invention. Vehicle components 50, 55 may be cabin 50 or any other independently suspended component of a commercial vehicle. The motion may relate to displacement or translational motion T, but may also be any type of rocking or rotational motion R of the vehicle components 50,55. The system includes at least one control unit 110, which controls at least:
- receiving sensor data from the sensor 70;
- detecting the movements R, T of the components 50, 55; and - determining compensation data that allow compensation of deviations in the sensor data caused by the movements R, T;
is configured to run

Sensors 70 are configurable to detect ground 60 and determine any movement of vehicle components 50, 55 relative to ground 60 or other vehicle components. To achieve this, the sensor 70 may be a LIDAR (= light detecting and ranging ) sensor that creates a point cloud from reflections 67 from the ground 60, which may be road or street surfaces. . From the point cloud, the control unit 110 can be configured to fit a plane by statistical regression analysis. If the components 50,55 undergo motions R,T, the determined plane changes (with respect to the components 50,55). From the analysis herein, the control unit 110 can determine the amount of change, which may be the angle of rotation or the more global coordinate transformation associated with the rotational motion/vibration of the components 50, 55 with respect to the ground. good.

By continuously monitoring the ground plane 60, the control unit 110 detects any deviations over time during operation of the commercial vehicle and provides compensation data suitable for compensating for the relative motions R,T of the components 50,55. can be formed.

FIG. 2 shows a commercial vehicle with a cabin 50 supporting a plurality of sensors 71, 72, . . . that can be used as perceptual sensors. Sensor 70 of FIG. 1 may be one of these. The sensors may include a first sensor 71, a second sensor 72, a third sensor 73 and a fourth sensor. Sensors 71-74 may be mounted directly on cabin 50, but may also be mounted on any type of frame that moves with cabin 50 during operation of the commercial vehicle. The first sensor 71 may comprise for example a LIDAR sensor, the second sensor 72 may comprise a front facing camera (2D or 3D), the third sensor 73 may comprise for example a rear facing camera and the fourth sensor 74 may for example Including radar or ultrasonic sensors.

Cabin 50 is attached to chassis 55 and may include control unit 110 . Since the suspension of such a cabin 50 is optimized for driver comfort, significant motion relative to the vehicle chassis 55 or the ground 60 can occur. For this reason, the cabin 50 is not rigidly attached to the chassis or undercarriage 55 and is capable of rocking R about an axis of rotation lying in a horizontal plane, for example a plane parallel to the ground plane 60 (FIG. 2). (see figure below). Exemplary cabin 50 suspensions may allow movement in any degree of freedom between cabin 50 and chassis 55 and/or with respect to ground 60, for example. Movements R, T are caused by dynamic forces acting on the vehicle, such as braking and/or acceleration and/or road irregularities and/or cornering or other movements that produce forces on the cabin 50 .

As the various sensors 71, 72, . In other words, unless the movement R of the cabin 50 is compensated for, the corresponding sensor data cannot be relied upon. For example, such motion has the effect that the sensor data, or quantities derived from this sensor data, become less accurate, requiring a transformation that allows conversion between the ground 60 and the instantaneous vehicle coordinate system. have. In other words, the initial calibration is no longer valid as the coordinate system of the sensor itself is affected by the relative motion.

An estimate of such motion can be obtained by detecting the ground plane 60 . If the motion relative to the ground plane 60 is known compared to the frame (movable vehicle components 50, 55) to which the sensors 71, 72, . , that is, correction is possible with correct frame displacement information. As a result, sensor displacement caused by movement of the cabin 50 can be compensated for, thereby improving the accuracy of the sensor results obtained.

At least one of the perceptual sensors 71, 72, 73, 74 can determine an exemplary point cloud, for example, to keep track of the ground plane 60 while driving the vehicle. The ground plane 60 can also be obtained based on radar imaging or using one or more ultrasonic sensors. In this case, the motion of the cabin 50 relative to the chassis 55 and/or the motion of the chassis 55 relative to the ground 60 can be estimated or determined, the result being the perception of any of the above sensors mounted on the same frame 71-74. Used for compensation of results.

Furthermore, the sensors 71, 72, . . . can be initially calibrated to the ground plane (reference calibration). A reference calibration can be obtained, for example, during a first set-up of the sensors 71, 72, . . . and is obtained when the vehicle is stationary. Compensation data can be derived by comparing the determined horizon 60 to an initial calibration horizon that can be stored in the control unit 110 or other storage. From the comparison here, the control unit 110 can obtain the transformation between the two coordinate systems, namely the vehicle coordinate system at rest and the component's coordinate system during motion.

Control unit 110 can be located in cabin 50 or at any other location in the vehicle and receives sensor data from sensors 71, 72, . Control unit 110 may be any type of vehicle electronic control unit adapted (by installing corresponding software) to determine and provide compensation data. The compensation data may be of any type suitable for correcting sensor data from various sensors 71, 72, ... or other sensors to compensate for the motions R, T of exemplary cabin 50 during operation. information. The compensation can be performed dynamically during operation of the vehicle, and continuous movements R, T of the vehicle component 50 are continuously compensated.

The exemplary estimation of frame motion relative to ground plane 60 also allows compensation for displacement of any other sensors mounted on the same frame. For example, if in FIG. 2 the displacement correction is derived from the first sensor 71, the result takes into account different positions of the object in question in the cabin 50 and can also be used in the cameras 72,73. Become. This is because the relative position of the first sensor 71 with respect to the second sensor 72 and the third sensor 73 does not change during the movements R,T. In other words, the determined amount of compensation can be used to transform the coordinate system of the frame (vehicle components 50, 55) back to the initial coordinate system on which the initial calibration was based. As a result, all sensor data from sensors using the same coordinate system can be compensated.

The same basic scheme can be used for other vehicle frame sensors, and these can also be compensated for by determining changes in their coordinate system.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of a method of compensating motions R, T of vehicle components 50, 55 relative to other vehicle components or the ground 60, wherein at least one sensor 70 is attached to the components 50, 55. It is shown. The method is
a step S110 of receiving sensor data from at least one sensor 70;
- detecting S120 the movements R, T of the component 50; and - determining S130 compensation data that allows compensation for deviations in the sensor data caused by the movements R, T;
including.

The method may be a computer-implemented method. A person skilled in the art should readily recognize that each step of various methods described above can be performed by programmed computers. Also, each embodiment may be machine-readable or computer-readable and include machine-executable program instructions or computer-executable program instructions, i.e., operations of some or all of the methods described above when executed on a computer or processor. It is also intended to cover program storage devices, such as digital data storage media, encoding instructions for executing the .

A particular advantage of embodiments of the present invention relates to enabling real-time estimation of the position of the components 50, 55 holding the sensory sensors 71, 72, . The estimate can be derived from one or more sensors 71, 72, .

It is understood that the sensors 71, 72, . Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention are not limited to estimating the ground plane 60, but can be used to derive any relative motion with respect to other objects or vehicle components.

Compensation data can also be used to improve the quality of perception of the required environment, such as the quality of object detection, free space detection, or perception of other functions provided by multiple sensors. be. In this way, better perception of the environment can be achieved, enabling safer driving of the vehicle, especially when implemented in autonomous commercial vehicles.

Advantageous embodiments include one or more of the following.

Embodiments relate to a commercial vehicle environment perception system, where the perception system uses at least one environment perception sensor 70 mounted on the same frame 50, 55 to measure the independence of the commercial vehicle with respect to the ground plane 60. Calculate the position of a component suspended in .

Embodiments further relate to an environmental perception system for commercial vehicles, where the perception system calculates the position of the cabin relative to the ground plane 60 from environmental perception sensors 70 attached to the cabin 50 .

Embodiments further relate to a commercial vehicle environment perception system, where the perception system calculates the position of the chassis relative to the ground plane 60 from environment perception sensors 70 mounted on the chassis 55 .

In an environmental perception system, the environmental perception sensor data can be corrected by the estimated ground-to-cabin position.

In an environmental perception system, the environmental perception sensor data can be corrected by the estimated ground-to-undercarriage position.

In an environment perception system, ground plane estimation can be based on fitting a plane to the point cloud after segmentation of the ground points.

In an environment perception system, the sensors 70 that detect the ground plane 60 may be at least one LIDAR 71 .

In an environment perception system, the sensor 70 that detects the ground plane 60 may be at least one mono camera 72 or stereo camera 73 .

In an environmental perception system, the sensors 70 that detect the ground plane 60 may be at least one radar 74 .

In an environment perception system, the sensor 70 that detects the ground plane 60 may be at least one ultrasonic sensor 74 .

In an environment perception system, the sensor 70 that detects the ground plane 60 may be a combination of the sensors described above.

In environmental perception systems, the perception sensor data can be compensated by data calculated by the control system.

The description and drawings merely represent the basic scheme of the disclosure. Thus, it should be understood that those skilled in the art may contemplate a variety of devices within the scope of the present invention that embody the basic principles of the disclosure, even if not explicitly described or illustrated herein.

Moreover, while each embodiment can stand on its own as an individual example, the defined features can be combined in various ways in other embodiments, i.e. specific Note that features can also be implemented in other embodiments. Such combinations are covered by the disclosure herein unless it is stated that no particular combination is intended.

50 (independently suspended) vehicle components, cabin 55 chassis 60 ground 67 reflections 70, 71, ... sensors 110 control unit R, T motion (rotation, displacement, translation, etc.)

Claims (13)

A system for compensating for motion (R,T) of a vehicle component (50,55) with respect to another vehicle component or the ground (60), wherein one or more sensors (70) are coupled to said vehicle component (50,55). 55), in the system supported by
The control unit (110)
- receiving sensor data from said one or more sensors (70);
- detecting said motion (R, T) of said vehicle component (50, 55); and - determining compensation data enabling compensation of deviations in sensor data caused by said motion (R, T). ,
is configured to run
the vehicle components (50, 55) are independently suspended from other vehicle components;
Said vehicle component (50, 55) is a cabin (50) of a commercial vehicle and said control unit (110) is adapted to determine the position of said cabin (50) or the deviation of said position with respect to the ground (60). further configured,
or
wherein said vehicle component (50, 55) is a chassis (55) of a commercial vehicle and said control unit (110) is adapted to determine the position or deviation of said position of said chassis (55) relative to the ground (60). is further composed of
system. said one or more sensors (70 ) being a plurality of sensors (71, 72, 73, . . . ) supported on said vehicle component (50, 55) or another vehicle component;
The control unit (110) further comprises:
- making said determination of said compensation data based on data received by one or more of said plurality of sensors;
- configured to supply said compensation data for correction of sensor data from some or all of said plurality of sensors (71, 72, 73, ...);
The system of claim 1. The control unit (110) further comprises:
is configured to correct sensor data based on the determined position of said cabin (50) or deviation of said position,
3. System according to claim 1 or 2. The control unit (110) further comprises:
is configured to correct sensor data based on the determined position of said chassis (55) or deviations in said position;
System according to any one of claims 1-3 . the control unit (110) is configured to use one of the sensors (70) to determine a ground plane for the vehicle components (50, 55);
System according to any one of claims 1 to 4 . the one or more sensors (70) are configured to generate a point cloud from ground reflections (67) detected by the one or more sensors (70);
The control unit (110) is further configured to determine the ground plane based on the point cloud and to use the determined ground plane for the determination of the compensation data.
6. The system of claim 5 . the control unit (110) is configured to determine the ground plane (60) based on sensor data from a combination of sensors of the one or more sensors (70);
System according to claim 5 or 6 . the commercial vehicle includes another sensor for obtaining vehicle data and/or environmental data;
The control unit (110) is further configured to base the determination of the compensation data in part on the vehicle data and/or the environmental data.
System according to any one of claims 1 to 7 . A commercial vehicle comprising a vehicle component (50,55) suspended independently from other vehicle components, said vehicle component (50,55) supporting at least one sensor (70) in
A system according to any one of claims 1 to 8 is provided ,
commercial vehicle. Said one or more sensors (70) comprise one or more of LIDAR (71), mono or stereo cameras (72, 73), radar (74), ultrasonic sensor (74) sensors. ,
Commercial vehicle according to claim 9 . A method for compensating for motion (R,T) of a vehicle component (50,55) with respect to another vehicle component or the ground (60), wherein at least one sensor (70) is coupled to said vehicle component (50,55) In the method advocated by
- receiving (S110) sensor data from said at least one sensor (70) by a control unit (110) ;
- detecting (S120) said movements (R, T) of said vehicle components (50, 55) by means of said control unit ( 110);
determining (S130 ), by means of said control unit (110), compensation data enabling compensation of deviations in sensor data caused by said movements (R,T);
the vehicle components (50, 55) are independently suspended from other vehicle components;
Said vehicle component (50, 55) is a cabin (50) of a commercial vehicle and said control unit (110) is adapted to determine the position of said cabin (50) or the deviation of said position with respect to the ground (60). further configured,
or
wherein said vehicle component (50, 55) is a chassis (55) of a commercial vehicle and said control unit (110) is adapted to determine the position or deviation of said position of said chassis (55) relative to the ground (60). is further composed of
How . 12. The method of claim 11 , wherein during operation of the commercial vehicle, continuously determining compensation data enabling dynamic correction of sensor data received from various sensors of the commercial vehicle. Computer program comprising program code for performing the method of claim 11 or 12 when the program code is executed on a processor .

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